The answers to the question in the title and the one in the text are different. 1. How important is an traditional education for programming? - It's complicat

The answers to the question in the title and the one in the text are different. 1. How important is an traditional education for programming? - It's complicated - formal education helps but it's not a requirement and the most talented people can succeed without it but you likely aren't the most talented but you can still do well... and so on. 2. What does HN tell teenagers ready to leave high school for their next step? - Get a computer science degree if you want to work in software, and you're still young and haven't been to university. You'll have a much better career trajectory if you do this compared to doing anything else. The answer changes for people who are considering formal education later in life, or who have a degree in something else, or some other experience - then it gets complicated to analyze again. But for a teenager who wants to build a career in software, getting a CS degree seems like a very easy recommendation.